“How could you?” is the title ofa story told by Jim Willis. It’s a story that’s part of our reading to becoming a Certified Dog Obedience Trainer through Animal Behavior College prior to entering the mentorship part of the training.  Being compassionate people reading the first couple of lines we already knew what the outcome was going to be still the tears immediately filled our eyes and we had to put the paper down.  Part of Animal Behavioral College curriculum is to save as many dogs as possible and that means going into shelters to work with the dogs there in an effort to make them appealing to those that visit the shelter in hopes of finding that furever family member.  It took awhile for us topick up the paper to complete the reading as required.  It’s heartbreaking to think this story isn’t about a particular dog but dogs everywhere that are “discarded” by their human counterpart for whatever the reason.  Some of us reading this will say I’ll never do that to my dog and then their dog is now part of this story.

It’s important to understand and have a formidable plan in the event of an emergency or when “life happens.” We have two pitties of our own and prior to adopting there wasn’t a plan, we’re thinking as most do we’re going to be able to weather the storm no matter what.  With the economy, it has caused many loveable pets to become abandoned.  It’s natural for humans to take care of one another in time of need however, what about the pledge one took when they adopted their pet? The thought of leaving Sasha & Krush or having them put down because “life happened” is unfathomable.  With Maryland Court of Appeals decion that the owner of pit bulls/pit bull mixes, the landlord and whoever else was aware the owner had a pit bull  is responsible for any attacks the pit bull makes is ridiculous. The only person that should be responsible is the owner and again every situation is different and should be anaylzed and handled indiviudally.  This decision sounds like genocide to us. The repercussions that will follow this decision will result in many beloved pets asking their owners and the veterinary technician administering the lethal dose of toxins “How could you?”